17 Responses to this entry

I fell nauseous by the end of it. Notice the absolute contempt for the principle of Exit–that is, of free association and order of the spontaneous sort. Why would anyone want to leave the Union of Universal Brotherhood, comrade? The people are happy! You must be sick. Prefer Exit, do you? Then off to a labor camp you go!

The article is “classier” only in the sense that it makes use of psuedo-literary language, and makes attempts at being evocative. (Misplaced here. In this particular sort of context, such things can only make the author sound less, not more, clear-minded and erudite.)

The “synopsis” — to use the term loosely — is garbage. The author, in fact, has not really attempted to argue anything in good faith. Instead, via hyperbole, he has attempted to make a laughingstock out of NRx. (And Yarvin in particular. I’d add: This sort of hyperbole is typical of Jon Stewart-style snark.) This idiot of an author also devotes much of his article to the fact that NRx doesn’t worship negroes and brown people, as he so clearly does. That inane passage about pull-ups with black men in the park, and jazz vs. hip-hop, deserves to be much more thoroughly mocked… but I’d better get back to work.

@Erebus
Not sure what the opinion is over here, but Jazz always sounded to me like someone bought a trumpet and tried to treat it like a drum. Or something. Some people have tried to argue that this is a racial thing—that black folks are better at rhythm then melody—but I don’t really care. It’s boringly pretentious, sometimes nice background stuff, but not much more.

Blues and hip-hop are, if anything, the very *best* case for why black *culture* is toxic. Take, for example, a song like this one:

Back in the day a NRx article would prompt 100+ comments. This does raise a steam issue. Anyone intelligent and worth listening to – our humble host aside – appears to abandon ship (iamlegionnaire most recently) with a fair degree of frequency, so momentum is obviously hard to maintain. Thoughts?

It’s no dire omen that this minor piece has not prompted a 100+ strong comment brigade in defense. It starts nice enough, and if the author had continued in the vein of neoreactionary exegesis he might have finished with something interesting, but instead he devolves from aping the worst of Paris Review to following the standard rules of mainstream liberal screeds. For example:

“Neoreactionaries are terrified of “chaos.” They love “order,” and believe in “civilization” as the only morality. They want to be able to leave their keys in their cars. They adore Putin … They worry, often, about “sluts,” in tones suggestive of sexual paranoia and terror of rejection.”

That’s a good deal of projection, and it’s obnoxious enough that no one wants to wade in and try to engage with it. It’s the usual ‘steelmanned’ critique that’s been pitched so low in the mud that no one can pick it up without coming out at least a little dirty and humiliated, which is exactly what this guy wants. Funnily enough, what the author intends as ironic half-truths are banalities neither false nor otherwise. Moving along the author quotes Jim as evidence of the sexual impotence of neoreactionaries, but only proves the twisted sense of humor of Jim. As for speculation on unreported rape statistics of China, that’s not my specialty, but neoreaction is in agreement with the author that racially aggregated statistics can reveal highly unpleasant, located behaviors. For instance, the Cathedral in its essence is a supra-rational race-war, rather than an irrational configuration of (democratic) chaos, which is how the author has understood it. Hybridization and diversity do not preclude an unity of specification, quite the reverse is true. The Cathedral is ‘the human race’, conceived as the dialectical struggle-session of historical consciousness. But, who is terrified?… Neoreaction will continue to strive to achieve popular intolerability. This guy is doing a job for us.

Also, this was the first I’d heard of ‘The Shadow Moses Option’, I’m going to go find what Witch Hammer wrote on it.

The problem with committing to mockery as an encompassing rhetorical strategy is that you inevitably forego the possibility of sober, sincere engagement and meaningful critique.

For some of us, kynical laughter is worth pursuing for exactly this reason, but for a regime terrified of Exit and desperate to shout it down, derision is an unconvincing front, no matter how ‘classy’.

Compare/contrast this studied hit piece with Scott Alexander’s altogether more fertile and far less obnoxious efforts.

in ancient time in China highest degree of honor which was awarded by emperor to distinguished man was a metal plate with engraving ” Here Living Those Who Waiting for Death”. it was usually fixed on main entrance. But hell, nowadays we got some paradigm shift, you can wait for death if you want, but I gonna take those (coming soon) Google pills and wait for death much longer, kind of half millennium longer. A lot time to change your mind.